Club Camelot
by OoLostGirloO
Summary: Modern AU - "Joining the family business hadn't turned out exactly how Arthur had expected it to. He'd known his dad owned and ran a 'gentlemen's night club' since about the age of twelve, though he hadn't fully understood what that meant until the age of fifteen."
1. Chapter 1

**So I have just finished the first chapter, originally this was like a one scene inspiration thing that popped into my head, so I wrote it down, and then just kept writing, seriously, my fingers have a mind of their own sometimes. Anyway, when I got to 10 thousand words I was just like, instead of having small 6 page chapters like I usually aim for, I'm gonna have '**_**parts'**_** that fill up roughly 20 pages.**

**But the thing is, despite being really motivated with writing this story at the moment, I have so many going I didn't want to put another one up, so I just decided to write it all, and when (if) I finish it, I'd upload it one part at a time, each week, so I wasn't leaving you guys hanging.**

**And so, part one was completed on the 25****th**** of December (yes, on Christmas, and yes, I have no life) 2011, and I'm not going to re-write this when I finish the whole thing so it feels like I'm uploading it piece by piece and I haven't finished the other chaps yet so I don't accidentally give something away.**

**Enjoy.**

**Club Camelot**

**Part 1**

**Drugs, Sex and a Night-Club**

Joining the family business hadn't turned out exactly how Arthur had expected it to. He'd known his dad owned and ran a '_gentlemen's night club'_ since about the age of twelve, though he hadn't fully understood what that meant until the age of fifteen. The knowledge that his father worked and owned such a club didn't really bothered him all that much, but he hadn't understood why and how his father had come up with the business, and every time he worked up the courage to ask, he'd found himself too embarrassed to get the words past his lips. It all made sense when his father had finally given him a tour of the place on his eighteenth birthday. Knowing that Club Camelot was actually an establishment that had been handed down from father to son since about the late 6th century instead of some place his father had turned to when his wife had died had Arthur feeling stupid in the worse possible way. Not only had his thoughts turned to the worst scenario possible, but he'd truly believed his father had turned to prostitutes to fill the void his wife, Arthur's mother Ygrain, had left.

It turned out that the inside was actually quite quaint, despite the dancers. The interior design was quite English, snug and warm, and it seemed Uther liked the idea of the 18th century English theme. In his time of running the place he'd spent a small fortune having the whole place restored to mimic how the place had truly looked during this time, only adding a few small embellishments, like the two hall ways that came of the main room. Way back when, Club Camelot had also served as a hotel. Though it was not uncommon for a patron to take one of the dances back to their room for the night, it wasn't the main purpose of the rooms. Now though, the hall coming off from the left side of the stage had rooms specially reserved for these sort of rendezvous between patrons, while the one to the right was strictly for the dancers that worked for Uther to use for their own devices. Down the hall were separate dressing rooms, bathrooms – which included showers –, a costume room, and even a seamstresses room where all costumes damaged were fixed up to be re used. Though costumes were worn by the dancers, it wasn't like other night club joints. Most of the costumes still ran with the same eighteenth century theme, simply making the dresses shorter and tighter, but it still had that elegant feel Uther strived so hard to maintain.

Now the reason Arthur felt more out of his element then what he'd imaged, was mainly for the second stage. The main room, in its hay day, had been extremely large, and Uther had discovered a way to practically double his profits without expanding. He simply divided the main room in two. The dividing wall didn't stretch the whole distance of the room though, it stopped a few feet from the bar, so that from it, you could see both sides of the stage, one side for the female dancers, and the other side for the male dancers. When Arthur had heard his father speak those words, he'd felt the blood drain from his face. Apparently his father had come up with a brilliant idea of catering for both male patrons, and female patrons, but it hadn't _exactly_ turned out that way.

"Who knew there were so many queer fellers out there huh," his father had laughed, clapping him on the back making him stager. Arthur followed through the rest of the tour in a daze, by the end of it he'd come to the decision to not let it bother him, it was simply work. And so Arthur put on his new work cloths, white shirt, black braces, pants, shoes and bow tie with a determined zeal. He would be working behind the bar with a guy called Gwaine for the first half of the night, so that he could see how it worked and so he could watch over the crowed to see how everything played out most nights. The second half of his shift would be working up front with his father. They screened the clients to make sure there weren't any feds or reporters and generally made sure no one would cause any trouble.

The first half went on without a hitch, Arthur kept his eyes on his work and on the crowd, averting his eyes every time they strayed to the stage or began following a couple to the left hall. Gwaine mainly kept him distracted though, he had an air of ease that Arthur didn't understand, it cropped up a lot in his work, from the way he served customers with a cheerful, playful and teasing vigour, to the way he kept twirling his white tea towel in the air, saying it made him look the part. He talked a lot too, which at first bugged Arthur, until he realised that Gwaine was happy enough chatting away weather he was listening or not.

The second part began rather slow, which was probably what Uther had predicted. Most of the usual clientele were already seated with in, so it was only the few stragglers that Uther and Arthur attended to. Uther did most of the talking, while Arthur listened and watched how his father dealt with clients. He talked politely, but with the tone of someone who was not up to messing around. The only thing interesting that happened that night was when Arthur spotted someone rushing towards them, thrusting the two glass doors into the foyer open as he ran. He immediately tensed till he saw how small the boy was. Small and scrawny, he practically looked like twig. Arthur then frowned, opening his mouth to comment about how the boy looked much too young to be coming to such a place when Uther's hand came down on his shoulder, silencing him.

"You're late," Uther growled as the boy came to a stop in front of them, breathing heavily and reaching for something in his pocket.

"S-sorry, I honestly t-tried to ge-t here so-sooner," the boy wheezed before putting an inhaler to his lips and sucking in a puff of the medication.

"Mhmm," Uther hummed, unsympathetic to the boys struggling breath.

"Oh," the boy said looking to Arthur after letting out a long slow breath. "You must be Arthur," he said extending one black gloved hand. "It's nice to meet you, I'm Merlin." Arthur took his hand and shook.

"Ah, you too," Arthur mumbled.

"Merlin! Work, remember?" Uther growled angrily.

"Oh right," Merlin squeaked, reminding Arthur very much of a rabbit caught in head lights. And then quick as a flash Merlin rushed past them and into the club. Yeah, just like a rabbit. Arthur shook his head as Uther mumbled something about lazy employees, waiting for the right opportunity to ask what Merlin's age really was, as Arthur was under the impression his father made sure to give background checks on all his employees to avoid any lawsuits. The rest of the night was just as quiet, if not quieter than it had been while Arthur had been working out front in the foyer. People started heading out at about just after one, and Uther sent him back inside to help Gwaine clean up. The words 'howdy partner' had barely left Gwaine's mouth when Arthur caught sight of the boy Merlin again.

He was straddling some guys lap in the corner of the near empty club, his face flushed and skin glistening. His body was fully clothed, tight black pants, white shirt with sleeves rolled up past his elbows, blue vest and matching bow tie, but he had his hand down the pants of whomever it was that he was straddling, his fist pumping as the guy let his head fall back, a stifled groan escaping his lips. Gwaine followed Arthur's stunned gaze and rolled his eyes.

"Merlin we have rooms for that," Gwaine called across the bar, wrenching Arthur's gaze from the couple in the corner. Arthur felt heat flood his face, his heart was beating loudly in his ears, almost loud enough to drown out Merlin's next words, but not loud enough.

"Mister Thomas here likes an audience," Merlin called back with a small laugh, electing a groan from the man beneath him. His hips thrust up, causing Merlin to bob where he sat, and Arthur found he couldn't tear his eyes away.

"Yes well we do have regulations, OHS and all that crap," Gwaine replied as he continued to swipe down the counter. Arthur felt rooted to the spot, his eyes stuck on Merlin's back, watching the muscles bunch and move beneath his tight vest as he tended to his customer.

"OHS?" Merlin scoffed. He went to say something else when the guy beneath him cried out, his hands gripping Merlin's arms tight enough to bruise as he climaxed. "You like that?" Arthur heard Merlin croon as he nestled his face in the guy's neck whose hands were running up and down his back.

"You know I do," the guys replied breathlessly after a small chuckle. Arthur couldn't take it anymore. He turned back to the counter and collected a stack of glasses before beginning to place them in the dishwasher, using it and the bench to hide behind so he didn't have to watch Merlin cuddling with his customer. Arthur was expecting the scene to drag on and on like all bad things do, and so was fearing coming to the end of the stack of glasses, but strangely enough, a moment later and the guy was leaving. That was when he realised that the scene he'd just had to witness was nothing compared with having to face Merlin now.

"So how's your _boyfriend_?" Gwaine said as Merlin came towards the bar. _Maybe if I run in a crouch I can make it to the other side without Merlin noticing me._

"Oh you know Will," Merlin said with a wave of his hand. "Hey you got any hand towels back there? I don't want Thomas's junk getting on my work cloths," Merlin continued as he rested forward on the counter. His eyes landed on Arthur, who had still yet to mask the blush across his cheeks. "Arthur!" Merlin gasped, and then had the decency to look as awkward as Arthur felt. Arthur himself had long ago taught himself to school his features at a seconds notice, the blush had been a new development though and had taken him unprepared.

"So, ah," Merlin began, wide eyed as Arthur took another stack of glasses, eyes still averted. "I guess you saw all that huh?" Arthur didn't trust himself to talk so remained silent, Merlin took his silence as conformation and pushed on. "Are you going to tell your father?" Arthur looked to Merlin like he was crazy, why on earth would he tell his father he'd just watched some guy get another guy off? "It's just your dad doesn't like it when we tend to customers out here, it was only a onetime thing anyway, it's just that Thomas gets off on being in public places when he comes, and it's late so I just figured it was better doing it here than in a room which will then need to be cleaned and-"

"Dude, you're rambling," Gwaine said interrupting Merlin, for which Arthur was thankful. For a guy who couldn't even remember having ever blushed before, Merlin sure was bringing it out in him.

"Sorry," Merlin said with a wince before looking to Arthur. Arthur blinked then remembered Merlin was still waiting for an answer.

"Na it's cool, I won't say anything," Arthur said closing up the dishwasher and hitting start.

"Thanks Arthur, you're a life saver," Merlin said beaming. "And much nicer than your father I might add."

"Oy, I heard that," Uther grumbled coming through the door from the parlour.

"Sorry Uther, but you know it's true, you can be downright grumpy sometimes," Merlin said cheekily, his eyes going large and glistening, his lip pouting as he put all his effort into the puppy dog look.

"You watch it there young man," Uther said with a glare, but there was no heat behind the words. "Shouldn't you be on your way home anyway?"

"Na, Will said he'd pick me up so I've got to wait for him to finish work," Merlin said unbuttoning his bow tie.

"Yes well you know Will's not welcome here after what happened last time," Uther commented, looking at Merlin side long, a warning tone in his voice.

"Yeah I got it, I'm going," Merlin said with a dramatic sigh. "You got my pay?" Merlin asked rather hesitantly. Uther reached into the inside pocket of his tailored jacket and pulled out an envelope.

"It's not as much as you usually get," Uther commented handing Merlin his pay.

"No that's fine, I'm really sorry about this week, I swear it won't happen again," Merlin said opening the envelope up.

"I hope so, the clients love you, I'd hate to have to let you go," Uther said casually. Arthur nearly blanched at his father's easy comment about firing Merlin.

"Oh I know you would," Merlin said in a trill, lifting himself onto the bench and pressing a kiss to Uther's cheek. Once again, Arthur nearly blanched.

"Oh I think Arthur feels left out," Gwaine teased nudging Arthur in the ribs.

"What? No!" Arthur gasped, looking from Merlin to Gwaine and back. Merlin laughed before looking to Arthur with large eyes and a pouting lip, turning on the puppy dog look at a seconds notice.

"Oh, that hurts Arthur, not even a small itsy bitty kiss?" Merlin said blinking up at Arthur with his long lashes. Arthur felt his breath catch in his throat as he tried to respond, his mouth opening and closing several times like a fish.

"Alright, alright, enough boys," Uther finally interrupted with a laugh. "Merlin, you need to get going before that boy of yours comes looking for you here. And Gwaine, don't you have a home to go to?" Uther said looking at his employees. "So scram, I need to close up."

"Grumble bum," Merlin pouted before sauntering off, his black tailored jacket thrown over his shoulder. Arthur watched long enough to notice his hips swaying as he walked. Arthur gulped.

"Come on Arthur," Uther said pulling Arthur from his thoughtless state. "I'll show you how to lock up." Arthur followed Uther about as he locked up, only half paying attention. His heart was still beating too fast for his liking, and his thoughts kept turning back to the way those black pants hugged Merlin's calves, his thighs, all the way up to his ass. At that point Arthur would shove all thought from his mind and focus solely on what Uther was doing and saying.

That night wasn't much better. Arthur kept tossing and turning, his mind never fully straying from the image of Merlin – of his hands – of Merlin's hands down that guys pants, pulling and squeezing till his client reached his climax. And the effect his thoughts were having on his body was enough to have any straight man panicking, but he refused to touch himself, to get satisfaction and release from thoughts of another man, no matter how good looking he was. _Oh god, did I just admit to finding him attractive?_

Arthur lay for a full hour and a half before finally becoming fed up. He found some kind of comfort in overcoming his desires with the cold shower he then took, and was once again eternally grateful for finding a place of his own, for he knew he would have attracted some kind of attention from either his father or step sister had he still lived at the manor. As it was he was able to fall into a dreamless sleep without the fear of anyone discovering his 'cold shower' remedy. The next day flew by too quickly for Arthur's liking, bringing it closer to the time he would have to brave looking Merlin in the eye. His worry though, seemed to be for naught.

"Sick?" Arthur asked as he helped Gwaine bring the chairs down from the bar.

"Yeah. He called me this morning round twelve. 'Pparently he's got this crazy as cold and he can't get out of bed to join us working folk," Gwaine replied with a shrug.

"You don't sound all that worried," Arthur commented. "Twelve?" Arthur said as an afterthought. "You count twelve as morning? That's lunch time."

"Shut up," Gwaine mumbled. "And if Merlin was as sick half the times he says he is, they wouldn't let him leave the hospital," Gwaine replied.

"So what, does he just not like working?" Arthur asked, not truly convinced, the first time Arthur had seen the boy he'd been in dire need of an inhaler, and he did have this frail look about him that couldn't be healthy.

"No it's not anything like that," Gwaine replied as they made their way into the right hallway. "He's just got a lot to deal with, most of the people who work here do," Gwaine continued as they stopped outside a room with a metal '6' nailed into it. "The first thing you've got to know about this place, is that everyone here has a sob story. Weather the story's a sob story for the sole purpose of having a sob story, like with Vivian, or if they truly have nowhere else to go and this place is better than their actual life, like Lance and G girl," Gwaine said indicating the couple at the end of the hall who were wrapped up in each other's embrace. Not kissing or making out, just simply holding each other.

"Those two ran away cause their parents wouldn't let them be together, but the thing is their both from real important families, families with connections. They couldn't get jobs because their parents kept getting in the way, so Uther offered them jobs," Gwaine explained as they moved into room six, there was a guy snoring on the cot that'd been pushed up against the wall. "But I mean they could have done worse."

"How so?" Arthur asked shrugging out of his jacket.

"Well I'm just the bar keep, but I know the works of the place. If you're a dancer and someone asks if you'll come back to a room with them, the dancers have the right to turn them down, Uther makes sure none of them are pressured into anything. And they pay for dancing's pretty good so most of them don't need to offer up any additional service," Gwaine explained as he slipped his bow around his collar.

"Course then you get the people like Vivian, now she's a right piece of work. She went on and on about how unfair her life's been when she first got here, turns out daddy dearest cut her off because she was buying him out of house and home with her credit card debts, so she had to get a job. Course a girl like that's not got any skill bar her good looks, so where else is one to turn. Mind you I recon she likes playing the dirty whore."

"Gwaine!" Arthur gasped at his foul language as he tied his shoelaces up. He hated new shoes, the laces just didn't grip and he ended up tying them half a dozen times during the first wear.

"Hey, it'd be mean if it weren't true, but it is," Gwaine said in defence as he headed to the door, fully dressed in his work cloths. Arthur just continued to frown as they made their way down the hall and back into the main room. A few girls were already on stage, chatting, practicing or relaxing.

"So which is Merlin?" Arthur asked.

"Bit of both I recon, but if the rumours are true, he didn't have much choice," Gwaine replied holding the bench door up for Arthur before following him in.

"Rumours?" Arthur queried as Gwaine took out two glasses. Arthur took one and poured himself a water from the jug in the fridge while Gwaine poured himself a tall beer.

"Orphaned young, bounced from foster home to foster home, abused the whole time, finally turns eighteen and can get away and he falls into the clutches of Will, the psycho abusive boyfriend who's always jealous but insists Merlin works here," Gwaine answered.

"Really?" Arthur gasped.

"Don't know how much is true, and Merlin never talks about himself," Gwaine replied. "He don't mind the work though, and by that I mean the back room work," Gwaine said gesturing to the left hall.

"He sells his body?" Arthur asked.

"Jeeze Arthur," Gwaine said wide eyed, looking left to right to make sure they weren't being listened to. "Look at where you are. You can't ask questions like that here."

"Right, sorry," Arthur said guiltily, honestly shocked he'd said that.

"Mm, just watch what you say round the girls, they can get rather violent," Gwaine warned as Uther made his way over to them.

"Evening sir," Gwaine said when Uther reached them.

"Gwaine, when Leon gets here I want you to tell him he's taking the front today," Uther said in his business tone.

"Aw, I was looking forward to getting my buddy back," Gwaine said with a fake pout.

"Yes well," Uther muttered with a shake of his head. "Arthur I'm going to get you familiar with the books in the office today, there's too much to cover in one sitting tonight without making your head fall off, so you'll be back out here for the other half." Uther turned to leave, not bothering for a reply from Arthur, when Gwaine called out.

"Sir." Uther turned to Gwaine, his eye brows raised. "Merlin won't be in today."

"Yes he called me a couple of hours ago," Uther replied. "And I told him if he doesn't come today, he shouldn't bother coming tomorrow either." Uther turned and left, leaving two speechless men behind.

"Wow," Gwaine breathed looking to Arthur. "Hope Merlin makes it in time." Arthur followed his father with the intent of telling him to cut Merlin a break, but before he could get a word out, his father turned to him as if nothing had happened and began explaining how they split their income between all the bills, insurance and employees, as well as any odd job that comes up, like calling in a plumber or an electrician. Uther explained that some fortnights were tougher than others, if they didn't rake in enough money they had to put some costs on the back burner to deal with later. He always made sure his employees were well paid though, as he explained that was the important part, if they became unhappy in his service, business would drop.

Arthur was glad for the distraction work brought. At his last job he'd worked at a bank, he'd always been good with maths and was happy to have it go towards getting him a better job. He understood numbers, that's what really attracted him, he knew how the equations were going to work out just by looking at the formula. He knew he wasn't a genius with maths, but his passion for it, his determination, and his understanding of it got him bloody well close to a genius with numbers.

His father sat him down at the only desk in the office with sheets upon sheets of numbers, their income, costs, produce for the bar, and a number of other variables to take into account when calculating their profit. Uther left him to it, and for the first hour and a half Arthur worked flat out, no thoughts of Merlin invaded his mind, no thoughts of his tight pants or how he interacted with his customers, not one. But there was only so much Arthur could do when he'd finished the calculations on the last page. He sat for a moment looking down at the sheet, his mind still blank from the calculations, and then Merlin was in his head again. _What if he didn't come into work on time, will he really lose he job? _Arthur got up and stretched his legs before collecting the papers for his father to go over. The office was on the second floor, along with a small coffee room with a vending machine, a sofa, a fridge and a sink, there was also a half dozen or so empty rooms Uther used for storage coming off the main hallway upstairs. Back in the main room Arthur made a bee line for the foyer to speak with his father.

"Well done Arthur," Uther said smiling as he looked over the sheets of equations and answers. "I'll go over this now," he said looking to the tall man beside him. He had a sandy brown scruffy small beard that matched the thick curly patch atop his head. "Arthur this is Leon," Uther said indicating the man beside him. "And Leon this is my son, Arthur."

"Pleasure to meet you sir," Leon said clasping Arthurs hand.

"You too, and Arthur's fine," Arthur replied smiling at Leon's polite welcoming, though feeling slightly uncomfortable with the way he'd been addressed when it was clear that Leon was much older than him.

"I'll leave you to hold the fort here Leon," Uther said clasping him on the shoulder. "And Arthur, you mind joining Gwaine again? I know he can be a hand full sometimes."

"That's fine," Arthur said following Uther back into the main room. "So ah," Arthur began, calling his father's attention as he went to leave him to head up stairs. "Did Merlin make?"

"Yes, he did," Uther replied with a frown, something akin to worry in his eyes. "I'm glad he did come, I am running a business , which means I have to be practical, but that doesn't mean I enjoy putting people out of their jobs, especially someone like Merlin," Uther said, the last bit was directed more to himself then to Arthur though. He shook his head, his eyes still unfocused before he headed upstairs, still deep in thought. Arthur made his way over to Gwaine who was chatting away with the girl he'd called, 'G girl.'

"Arthur, I'd like you to meet our lovely Miss Gwen," Gwaine said when Arthur approached. Arthur extended his hand to shake Gwen's, opening his mouth to say hello when Gwaine cut across him. "You know, the one shagging Lance."

"Gwaine!" Arthur hissed as the girl before him went a bright pink, quite an accomplishment seeing as how dark skinned she was. "It's nice to meet you Gwen," Arthur said kindly, trying to convey with his eyes that he wasn't taking Gwaine's words to heart. Even though he was rather sure there was some truth behind it.

"You too Arthur," Gwen said with a slight nod to her head, almost like a bow, which Arthur found quite amusing. Lance joined them then, slipping his hands round Gwen's waist. Like Merlin, Lance was wearing tight black pants, a white shirt, and a matching bow tie and vest, only instead of midnight blue, it was forest green, which Arthur thought suited him more than the blue one would have. Gwen was wearing a short black and white dress, a corset to hold the waist in and exenterate her breasts, and a full frilly skirt which made her fishnet covered legs look much longer than they actually were. "Lance, this is Arthur, Uther's son," Gwen said softly to the man behind her without having to turn to know who it was, but then again, who else would embrace her so.

"Nice to meet you," Arthur said with a nod of his head, his hands preoccupied with drying a glass from the dishwasher.

"It's nice to meet you too Arthur," Lance said formally with a tilting of his head much like Gwen had done. Arthur looked around as he realised that these people most defiantly should be working, only to find the club empty but a few patrons. There were two guys watching a blonde and brunet dance on the girls side, and then there was just the one guy watching Merlin dance. Arthur's eyes snagged on Merlin and he felt blood heat his face before he managed to tear his eyes away from the way Merlin was rolling his hips.

"Slow night?" Arthur asked looking from Gwen to Lance.

"Always is Monday nights," Lance replied with a shrug. "Uther closes the joint up around twelve most Mondays." That was when the two girls from the stage joined them.

"I can't believe they didn't even tip us," the blonde growled heaving herself into a bar stool. "I mean we were dance up there, just for them, everyone else is gone, and they just up and leave without even a modest tip."

"You win some you lose some," the brunet replied sitting up next to her, the blond just grumbled some more till her eyes fell on Arthur.

"Oh," she practically squeaked. "You must be Arthur," she continued as she leant forward on the bar seductively. "I bet you appreciated the show more than those tossers right?" Arthur just raised his eye brows in shock. He was saved the embarrassment of having to reply when Merlin appeared at the bar.

"Key please," Merlin trilled holding out his hand. Gwaine turned and took one of many keys from the board that they hung from by the mirror.

"Bed him well fair princess," Gwaine said dramatically as he handed over the key, as if he was handing over the world. Merlin wrinkled his nose at Gwaine with a shake of his head before heading over to the man waiting by the left hall. The man's hand slipped down to Merlin's lower back as he followed him into the hall way. Arthur felt his jaw clench.

"Slut." Arthur turned to the blonde before him, her eyes still on the door Merlin had passed through, a disgusted look on her face.

"You must be Vivian," Arthur said monotonously. Gwaine laughed beside him as Lance and Gwen shared an awkward look. Vivian looked to Arthur with a pleased grin, obviously not noting the disdain in Arthur's.

"Yes, that would be me," Vivian purred.

"You know Merlin seems like an alright guy," Arthur said, attempting to sound unconcerned.

"He is." Arthur heard Gwen say softly, eyes still flickering up to Lance's.

"If you say so," Vivian said smiling up at Arthur, obviously not in any mood to be talking about Merlin.

"It's just you seemed a little harsh with your accusation," Arthur continued, his jaw clenching again at the thought of what Merlin and that guy were doing right as he spoke. Vivian sat up, a frown descending as she huffed in frustration.

"Well he is the only guy who offers '_those'_ kind of services, if that isn't slutty then what is?" Vivian hissed angrily.

"Well I hear you offer '_those'_ kind of services too," Arthur rebuked before he could stop himself, Vivian looked like she'd been slapped.

"That's different," Vivian spat.

"How so?" Arthur queried, cloth and glass forgotten in his hands.

"Well it just is. Any how I need the money, I've got no other source of income," Vivian growled.

"Viv, drop it," the brunet beside Vivian said softly, her hand tugging at the girls frilly skirt, the only bit of material not fitted to her body that she could actually get a hold of.

"No, I will not _drop_ _it_, I need the money and what I do with my body is my business, you got that, _Arthur_?" Vivian said before stalking away to the dressing rooms. Silence descended on the bar, the only sound the swishing of the towel in Arthur's hand as he continued to dry the glasses.

"Well, Arthur," Gwaine spoke up with a grin. "Well done, you've made your first enemy here on your second day, I think you deserve a round of applause." Gwaine actually started clapping. "Oh and Arthur," Gwaine said a second later. "This here's Freya," Gwaine said indicating the brunette who was shifting uncomfortably on her stool.

"Ah, hi," Freya said attempting a smile, but just looking down right scared.

"Hi. Sorry about that, you two friends?" Arthur asked indicating the direction Vivian had stalked off in.

"Hell no," Freya said sounding shocked, before blushing. "I mean, we just share a changing room is all." Arthur nodded in understanding with a smile which seemed to ease Freya.

"We better be off," Lance said taking Gwen's hand. "Nice meeting you Arthur," Lance called over his shoulder.

"I should go too," Freya whispered as she slipped off her stool. "See ya."

"Bye guys," Gwaine called after them while Arthur descended into fury once more at Vivian's words.

"God, Vivian really is a right piece of work," Arthur muttered darkly. "Saying what she does with her body is her business and no one else's, then turning around and judging Merlin like that, she doesn't know what his life's like, he probably needs the money way more than her, the hypocrite."

"You alright mate?" Gwaine said eyeing Arthur strangely.

"Ah, yeah, it's nothing, just over tired," Arthur replied, noting he had to watch what he said and how he acted in front of Gwaine from now on. They fell into a comfortable silence after that, cleaning down the bench and the tables about the room. Uther came down when they were halfway done, informing Arthur he had to lock up tonight, just as Merlin's 'client' came out of the left hall, nodding awkwardly to the patrons before departing in a scurry. Then it was just Arthur and Gwaine in silence.

Ten minutes had passed and Merlin still hadn't emerged, Arthur was beginning to worry, and feared Gwaine could tell. He busied himself with dusting down the ancient bottles that were stored behind the bar, bumping his head when he heard a door open. Looking up he saw Merlin making his way over to them, back in his street cloths, hair wet.

"You right there Merlin?" Gwaine asked noticing Merlin's slight grimace.

"Yeah," Merlin said easing himself onto a bar stool with a wince. "Just got a bit of an impatient one."

"Here," Gwaine said sliding a glass of water and a painkiller across the counter top to him.

"Ta," Merlin said appreciatively as he swallowed the small white table and then gulped the water down. Arthur's eyes followed the bob of Merlin's Adam apple, and swore he'd never seen anything so hypnotising. His eyes caught a drop of water spilling down Merlin's chin and followed it back up to Merlin's red lips, up to his face. And then he froze.

"Fuck Merlin," Arthur gasped and Merlin looked to him wide eyed, or at least he tried to, one of his eyes was slightly swollen, red and black skin surrounding it like he'd been punched. "What the hell happened?" Arthur asked reaching across the bench to grab Merlin's chin as he tried to turn away. Merlin's eyes went wider, his cheeks going red as Arthur held his head still. "Did that guy-" Arthur cut himself off, Merlin had just said he'd had an impatient client, but surly his father didn't approve of clients _abusing_ his employees. "Did he-" this time it was Merlin who cut him off.

"What? No it wasn't him," Merlin said catching on. "No, I just, I'm such a klutz," Merlin began with a nervous laugh as Arthur let go of his chin. "I just tripped getting out of bed this morning, went head first into my bed post," Merlin laughed slightly, looking embarrassed. _He's lying_, Arthur realised slightly shocked._ Does his boyfriend actually abuse him?_ "My cold must be affecting my head worse than I thought, actually affecting my balance, not that it wasn't already terrible to begin with."

"I've got some cream in the back for bruises, should help with the swelling," Gwaine said moving out from behind the counter and heading to the right hall.

"Thanks Gwaine," Merlin called after him before turning back to Arthur, who was once again fighting with rage. "Are you okay Arthur?" Merlin asked meekly.

"Dandy," Arthur said through clenched teeth, turning back to the dishwasher and slamming it closed. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Merlin jump. "Sorry," Arthur said softly without turning. He ducked under the bench flap before heading to the office, he would stay up there till he saw Merlin and Gwaine leave through the window that overlooked the street. He didn't have to wait long.

The rest of the week was rather uneventful. Merlin was on time every day – with no new bruises, Arthur was happy to note. He found out a lot that week about his colleagues, like Gwaine had a 2 year old kid up north who lived with his ex-girlfriend, Lance was apparently saving up as much of his wages as he could to propose to Gwen (which wasn't much of a surprise), Leon was involved with Freya, and Vivian was a major slut (also not very surprising). Where Merlin would take one client to the left hall every two to three nights, Vivian saw to about two to three clients every night. And it wasn't that Vivian got more offers, Arthur watched Merlin enough to see the men approach him, and him shake his head. Every time a guy did approach Merlin, Arthur's jaw clenched and he found himself freezing until the deciding blow, until Merlin either shook his head, or nodded. Arthur soon learnt that Merlin had a few regular 'clients,' he would see too. These were the ones he was most likely to say yes too. Though he did on occasion say yes to others, it was unlikely. If he nodded Arthur would immediately avert his gaze, drifting to the female's side of the bar so it wasn't him Merlin asked for a room key. He assumed Gwaine noticed this after about the third night, but Arthur would rather Gwaine notice then have to look Merlin in the eye when he gave him a key.

He also found out about the themes his father had finally agreed to after much pestering by his employees, and surprisingly, his step sister. Morgana, had always been into fashion, not surprising for a girl, but still, she took cloths much more serious than anyone else Arthur knew. She'd gone to UNI to do a dress makers course, and though she'd been thrown out after a nasty fight that she still refused to divulge details about, she had learnt a great deal, and was a wiz with the sowing machine.

Morgana had always been more observant and a lot more forward with her questions than Arthur had ever been. So it was no wonder than, that by the time Morgana was 18, she already knew the ins and outs of Club Camelot. She'd demanded a tour the day after she'd turned 18, to which Uther had begrudgingly agreed to. After her tour, during which she spoke little, Morgana declared she would be done with the costumes by the end of the week. Uther, having had no idea what his daughter was talking about, had – quite worryingly – asked her to explain. To which she said, that from then on out, she would have new and exciting costumes for his employees, at least once a month.

Uther had declined at first, not wanting his baby girl to get mixed up in the dark world of a night club, weather he owned it or not. Though of course, 'no' wasn't the end of it for Morgana, she'd talked to his employees – mainly so the girls, as they were far more into costumes, and they outnumbered the boys quite significantly – and had pitched her ideas. Morgana could be quite charming when she put her mind to it, and quite manipulative. Eventually, with Morgana and all of his employees fighting for it, Uther finally caved to themed costumes, though he made it quite clear, they could not clash with the eighteenth century feel of the club, and they had to be tasteful.

As it was, Arthur had only seen the one costume, which Morgana had deemed the "Butlers and Maids" theme. It entailed, for the guys, the generic waist coat, matching shoes, jacket, tie and braces, but also with individualised panels of metallic colour on the vest. For the girls, it was an altered maids outfit from the eighteenth century, shortened and tightened in places to accentuate their feminie features. In the seamstress room where all the damaged costumes were stacked in a pile, were racks upon racks of costumes that had previously been on display for the patrons. Arthur was at first astonished by the amount of costumes his step sister had whipped up, before remembering it was the same sister whom he could not recall having seen being wearing the same outfit twice.

It wasn't until the beginning of the second week that Gwaine mentioned his observation of how Arthur acted around Merlin, and when he did so, it was in a rather round about fashion.

"So which side of the club would you be a customer of?" Gwaine asked him with a nudge of his elbow to get his attention.

"Huh?" Arthur asked confused, his mind had been wondering, as had his eyes, mainly over to where Merlin was dancing.

"Which tickles your fancy," Gwaine rephrased. "Girls," He said pointing to Vivian and Freya and the other girls dancing. "Or guys," he added pointing to Lance and Merlin and the other guy up there, but Arthurs eyes went straight to Merlin.

"What has that got to do with anything?" Arthur asked looking back down at the glass he was drying. Drying glasses was so tedious, they all looked the same, so he got the feeling he was in a loop where he was just whipping the same glass over and over again.

"Just getting to know you," Gwaine replied with a shrug. Arthur looked to him, Gwaine was actually being cautious, that meant he knew the answer to his question. Arthur sighed before slipping around the counter to sit on one of the stools, facing Gwaine who was watching him curiously.

"What should I do?" Arthur asked putting his head in his hands. Gwaine smiled and put down his cloth, leaning forward to rest his elbows on the counter.

"You could tell him," Gwaine suggested.

"Yeah, which him? Merlin or Uther?" Arthur asked.

"Mm, good question," Gwaine conceded. Arthur groaned and let his head fall forward onto the counter. "You know he's got a boyfriend right?"

"You mean Merlin right?" Arthur asked, his head shooting up in panic.

"What? Yes of course I mean Merlin! I mean your dads understanding and all, and tolerant of Merlin's flirtatious behaviour. But Uther, gay? I don't think so," Gwaine said with a shake of his head. Arthur nodded, trying to rid himself of the thought of his dad having a boyfriend.

"Is Merlin happy with Will?" Arthur asked. "Oh what am I thinking," Arthur huffed before Gwaine could reply. "I'm not gay," Arthur growled at himself before standing up. He made to move back round the counter when a yell and a crash met his ears. He turned and at first didn't understand what he was seeing. Lance and Merlin were both off the stage, Lance standing protectively before Merlin. And then Arthur saw the guy on the ground, quickly scrambling to his feet. It made sense then, Merlin had been receiving unwanted attention which had finally gotten to the point Lance had had to intervene.

Arthur was over there in a flash. His hands gripped the man's biceps before he could lunge forward at Lance, and Arthur was once again thankful his father had insisted he take boxing classes. It had come in handy twice before, the first time had been in high school when a fight had broken out, of course he'd gotten in trouble for intervening, but the teacher who'd witnessed the ordeal had stood by him saying that if he hadn't, they would have had at least one student in the hospital. The second time had been during his first year in college when a senior's, coincidentally also his step sister's, older boyfriend had been harassing her. Of course at the time, Morgana had not been pleased that she hadn't been able to stand up to her boyfriend, but the situation had created a bond between them that otherwise would never have formed.

"I'm sorry sir, but I'm going to have to ask you to leave," Arthur said, exerting hardly any strain as he held the man back from attacking Lance. The fact that the man was also nearly one hundred per cent waisted made it a lot easier to mauver the guy through the foyer.

"Arthur?" Leon asked shocked as he saw Arthur frog march the guy to the double doors.

"He was causing trouble," Arthur explained as he threw the guy onto the pavement.

"Sir, if you could just look this way," Leon instructed as he appeared at Arthur's side in the cool night air. The guy looked up confused and then a bright light filled the darkness as a camera flash went off. "Thank you." Arthur followed Leon back into the foyer and watched as Leon retrieved the image off the Polaroid before slipping it into a book he'd pulled from beneath the desk. "This is our black list," Leon said indicating the book as he put it away.

"I better check on Merlin," Arthur said, only half listening to Leon. "Where is he?" Arthur asked Gwaine when he returned to the bar, no Merlin is sight.

"Lance took him to their changing room to calm him down, seemed a bit shake up," Gwaine replied. "Wait," Gwaine called when Arthur turned to look for Merlin. "Take this to him," Gwaine said handing Arthur a glass of water and a couple of white pills. "It'll help him sleep." Arthur nodded, taking them in hand before heading in search of the black haired boy. He found him quite easily as Lance was outside the room calling to him.

"He's locked me out," Lance explained with a sigh when Arthur neared.

"Merlin?" Arthur called when he reached the door, he could hear sniffling on the other side. "Merlin, please open the door," Arthur said softly as Lance backed up.

"I should get back out there, Percy's not here so it's only Cedric up there at the moment. Can you handle Merlin?" Lance asked in a whisper.

"Ah, yeah sure," Arthur said hesitantly.

"Thanks," Lance said taking his exit. Arthur turned to the door slowly.

"Merlin?" Arthur called. "Merlin it's just me now, please let me in. Gwaine gave me something to help you calm down."

"I don't want to calm down!" Merlin called back. "I don't want to have to _need_ to calm down! God my whole life's a _fucking_ mess!"

"I know," Arthur soothed. "Please Merlin, let me in," he was met with silence. "I promise it'll help." He waited two heart beats and then the door creaked open and he was met with a tear stained Merlin, the thin eye liner he wore smudged beneath his red eyes. Arthur didn't know what to do, he'd grown up as an only child as Morgana had lived with her own mother at the time so had never been exposed to break downs like this. So he did the first thing he could think of, he took the few steps that separate him and Merlin and embraced him. Merlin's thin hands clutched at Arthur's shirt as he buried his face in his collar.

"Shh," Arthur breathed soothingly as he ran his hands up and down Merlins back in what he hopped was a comforting manor. It seemed to work after a few more moments as Merlin stood back, his face red and his eyes glistening. "Here," Arthur said handing Merlin the glass and pills. Merlin took them, grimacing as he swallowed. "Sit," Arthur instructed leading Merlin to the cot in the corner. "Will you tell me what happened?" Arthur asked. Merlin looked up at Arthur as he sat down next to him.

"It's not as bad as it sounds, not as bad as I'm making it out to be," Merlin mumbled with a sniff. "I just panicked. He just wouldn't let go of me, and I couldn't stop panicking. Then he started touching me. And then Lance was there pushing him off me. And then you were there," Merlin explained. "I'm just over reacting."

"No, he shouldn't have been touching you, you had a right to panic," Arthur assured him. Merlin looked up and Arthur smiled down at him.

"I think it was just the straw that broke the camel's back," Merlin mumbled sleepily, resting his chin in his hands.

"How so?" Arthur asked, unable to still his hand that had taken to rubbing soothing circles on Merlin's back.

"Just stuff at home, and the fear and strain of nearly losing my job I guess," Merlin replied. Arthur watched him as his eye lids began drooping. "Pretty good sleeping pills hmm?" Merlin sighed as his eyes slid shut.

"Mm," Arthur agreed with a small affectionate smile as Merlin tilted to the side, falling onto the bed, his eyes fluttered for a minute, and then he was still. Arthur rose and lifted Merlin's legs on to the bed before removing his shoes and pulling the blanket atop his sleeping form. "Sleep well," Arthur whispered, hesitating before allowing himself to press a small chaste kiss to Merlins forehead. Arthur made his way back into the club in a somewhat daze, his mind elsewhere as he began serving drinks again.

"So how is he?" Gwaine asked when they had a break in the flow of drinks.

"He's sleeping, seemed pretty stressed out though. Don't know what happened but he said stuff at homes been pretty bad lately," Arthur replied with a sigh.

"Not much we can do though is there?" Gwaine replied pouring himself a drink.

"I don't like the idea of Merlin being with Will," Arthur admitted after a moments silence, looking to Gwaine as he tried to convey how hard it was to say that out loud. "And it's not cause I'm jealous." Gwaine snorted. "Well it's not _only_ cause I'm jealous. Not that I'm saying I am jealous, I just don't think Merlin's safe with him. Don't tell me you believed him when he said he got that black eye from tripping and falling."

"Yeah I know, but Merlin's never going to do anything about it, he hasn't exactly got a place to go if he leaves Will," Gwaine replied. Arthur froze, his mind working overdrive as different things clicked into place.

"Hold the fort," Arthur said throwing his towel down on the bench as he jumped it. "I need to talk to my father." Uther was up in the office, going over Arthur's calculations, just because it was protocol, he knew his son was a wiz with numbers.

"I'm thinking of putting you in charge of our book keeping," Uther said when Arthur burst into the room.

"Sounds great," Arthur breathed striding forward. "I think Wills beating Merlin." Uther looked up at Arthur with raised eyebrows. He sighed, putting the papers down before removing his reading glasses.

"Yes Arthur, I am aware of the situation," Uther replied, indicating Arthur to sit in the chair across from the desk before folding his hands and resting his chin on them. "But there is nothing I can do, and there is nothing you can do either. You must let this go."

"Gwaine said something to me just now, about how even if Merlin did break it off with Will, he wouldn't have a place to go. And he doesn't make enough here that he can just rent a place out without a down payment right?" Arthur said in a rush, so much energy and adrenalin pumping through his veins he had to get up and start pacing.

"That is correct. Where are you going with this Arthur?" Uther asked leaning forward further as he watched his son curiously.

"I counted nine rooms up here, not including this one or the staff room. That's nine rooms that you aren't using, nine rooms that aren't making you money," Arthur said sitting back down in the chair, talking animatedly with hand gestures. "And there's not much in there but for a few crates. You could rent them out," Arthur began. Uther sat back in his chair shaking his head, he opened his mouth to respond when Arthur cut across him. "Hear me out," Arthur insisted to which Uther nodded with a sigh, indicating him to proceed. "You could rent them out to your staff, Merlin and the rest. I'm sure there are other who work here who would prefer to have one of your rooms then someplace half way across town. I could hook this place up with separate providers so you can tell how much electricity and water each person's using and they can pay for it themselves and then pay you the board. They'd be paying less living here, not to mention not needing a down payment cause you already know they're good for their word. And at the moment those rooms aren't making you any money," Arthur said leaning back in his chair as he waited for Uther to respond.

"It sounds like a good idea Arthur, but I'm not sure it would work. We'd have to get the rooms cleaned out, refurbished, make sure all the plumbing and electricity's working. I'm not sure we could afford it even if it ends up making us money," Uther replied, leaning back in his chair, pen in between his fingers.

"I can see what you mean, but as for cleaning them out and refurbishing them, the people who work here, though some are a bit odd, they're like a family, they care about each other and they look out for each other," Arthur said sincerely. "Call a meeting," Arthur suggested. "Before you make a decision, get them all together and see who's willing to pitch in and what they can do to help." Uther remained silent after that, his lips pursed as he thought. All of what Arthur had said seemed valid, and he knew his numbers, a profit would come with renting the rooms out, not to mention Merlin would be able to stay on full time and wouldn't have to stay with his crazy boyfriend.

"Alright. Talk to Merlin, see what he has to say about it, and I'll schedule a meeting for tomorrow," Uther surrendered with a smile at the relived look that passed his sons face. "Now go, don't you have work to do?" Arthur left the room in high spirits, joining Gwaine with a smile.

"So I assume it went well?" Gwaine asked slow and suspicious.

"Yep," Arthur replied throwing himself into his work with vigour.

"You want to elaborate on that?" Gwaine asked.

"Nope," Arthur laughed, Gwaine shook his head with a laugh. They talked a lot the rest of the night, more so than they usually did, so it didn't come as a surprise when suddenly two hours had gone by. Arthur only noticed this because Merlin reappeared, revitalised and ready to work. Arthur decided he would broche the topic later, when everyone else had gone. He didn't know how he would phrase it, and it was after this realisation that Arthur began panicking. What if Merlin wasn't just with Will because he had nowhere to go?

Arthur looked to Merlin then, he was swinging his body around one of the poles on the dance floor. It was then that Arthur realised Merlin had removed his shirt, so that it was only his vest that covered his chest, and even it was open. Arthur dropped the glass he was drying and it smashed loudly on the tiled floor. A bunch of people looked to him, even Merlin's eyes flickered up to him before he focused back on his dancing. Arthur blushed and quickly began picking up the shattered pieces of glass, his heart thumping in his chest so loudly he thought it was actually going to break a rib.

"Need a hand," Gwaine asked passing Arthur the brush pan and broom, one of his eye brows arched condescendingly.

"Thanks," Arthur mumbled, still red in the face.

"Mhmm," Gwaine hummed knowingly before standing and busying himself with serving customers. Arthur brushed the glass into the scoop before sighing, he was so confused. Did he actually have feelings for the boy? Arthur sighed again as he put his hand flat on the ground to push himself up. A sharp pain shot through his hand as he put weight on it. With a grunt Arthur fell back to the floor, eager to get as much pressure off his hand as soon as possible.

"_Fuck_," Arthur breathed bring his hand up to look at. Gwaine looked down at him and hissed, grabbing his tea towel and bending down next to Arthur. A sliver of glass, about five mill thick, was imbedded deep within his hand, creating a two inch gash.

"Wow," Gwaine breathed, showing, for a first, an emotion devoid of his easy go attitude. "Shit, that looks painful."

"Fuck Gwaine, pull it out," Arthur gasped, breathless with pain.

"Arthur, man, there is no way in hell I'm touching that," Gwaine said putting his hands up in defence. "Strong and brave I may be, but blood doesn't agree with me," he explained, eyeing Arthur's hand wearily as blood welled along the cut. "Or at least my stomach doesn't agree with it." A bunch of customers were now crowding around the bar, watching the interaction with a mixture of curiosity, disgust, and worry.

"Should I call an ambulance?" someone called out.

"No," Arthur ground out, hissing in pain as a muscle jumped in his hand, causing a shot of pain to tunnel up his arm. "_Fuck_."

"Arthur, you're probably gonna need stitches," Gwaine said steadily, his face going pale as he reached for his mobile.

"Guys, back it up," Lance called as he appeared at the bar, taking one look at the situation and reacting instantly. He pushed his way to the front of the bar and spread his arms, pushing people away from it. "You need to give us some space. Gwaine?" Lance called over his shoulder. "He okay?"

"I'm right here you know," Arthur wheezed out, beginning to feel light headed as he attempted to stand, shaking Gwaine off when he tried to help.

"His colours better than mine," Gwaine replied, looking very unsteady on his feet. "You should probably get Uther down here, I'll take Arthur out front to get some air," Gwaine said as people began drifting back to their tables, eyes still flickering to the bar.

"Probably a good idea," Lance replied. Gwaine steadily guided Arthur to the foyer, his hand on his back so he didn't have to see the blood dripping down Arthur's arm and into his white shirt, now to be forever stained. Leon got a start as he saw them stumble through the door.

"What happened," Leon asked, pulling the scarf he'd hung around his neck as he moved forward.

"Clumsy, stupid, idiotic. Need any more adjectives?" Arthur breathed heavily.

"Should we take it out?" Leon asked wrapping his scarf around Arthur's lower arm to slow the blood flow.

"I'm not sure," Gwaine replied, keeping his eyes focused on anything but Arthur.

"You can go Gwaine, I'll be fine," Arthur said as steadily as he could manage, the pain in his hand so overpowering.

"You sure?" Gwaine asked, his feet already edging him back towards the club.

"Yeah, someone needs to tend the bar," Arthur replied as Leon led him to a couch positioned to the left of the door. When Arthur next looked up, when his head wasn't spinning, Gwaine was gone. Leon watching him concerned, unsure what to do. "I think Lance went to find my father," Arthur said off handedly.

"Good," Leon said stiffly with a nod. "Has anyone called an ambulance?" Arthur shrugged, jumping when the door back into the club burst open. Merlin stood there, his wide childlike eyes shining with worry, but all Arthur saw was the pale flesh of his chest that was exposed as his undone vest fluttered apart.

"Arthur," Merlin gasped rushing to Leon's side, his eyes flashing down to the glass protruding morbidly from Arthur's flesh. "I- I-" Merlin stuttered, lost for words as his eyes shifted between Arthur's hand and his eyes.

"Merlin, there's something I wanted to talk to you about," Arthur breathed, deciding then was a good a time to talk to Merlin as any. "Can you give us a moment?" Arthur asked Leon, who looked just as shocked and confused as Merlin.

"Um, sure?" Leon asked, looking to Merlin who nodded he was okay with the situation. Arthur waited a moment till Leon was back on the other side of the room, before asking in a hushed voice-

"Why are you with Will?" Merlin's eyebrows shot up so fast Arthur was shocked they didn't fly off his head.

"Arthur, I don't think now's the time to be discussing my love life," Merlin replied once he'd gained control of his mouth and stopped gapping like a fish.

"Well no it's not about that," Arthur clarified. "I just want to know, from a strictly working point of view, if the only reason you're with him is because you have no other option."

"Arthur," Merlin gasped, looking both hurt and shocked. "Whether or not I have guys lining up offering their hearts to me, I wouldn't stay with someone just because I couldn't find someone better."

"No, I'm sorry, I'm not explaining myself very well at all," Arthur said with a shake of his head, that he instantly regretted.

"Well I think you'd better start," Merlin said, his voice hard and firm.

"I didn't mean: why are you with Will relationship wise – though I am curious to know – I meant: why are you staying at his place," Arthur explained, Merlin's face went blank. "I heard from some of the other guys that he lives, like, over half an hour away."

"Yeah, out on the out skirts," Merlin mumbled. "Arthur, why do you want to know?"

"I talked to father," Arthur began. "Convinced him to looking into renting the upstairs rooms out to you guys." Merlin wasn't saying anything, so Arthur continued, a blush rising in his cheeks, the pain in his hand completely forgotten. "He's not sure he can afford it, even if it makes him money in the long run and it is good for you guys, but he's going to talk to everyone tomorrow after work." Still Merlin wasn't talking. "I was at the time mainly thinking of your situation when I mentioned it to him so I just thought I should talk to you and see if you would even need a room here." This time when Merlin didn't respond, Arthur had nothing else he could think of to mention.

"You-" Merlin began after a lengthy pause. "You did this because, you didn't want me late for work anymore?" Merlin asked with a confused frown.

"Well, that's how it started, but if you think about it, I'm sure there are a lot of people working here who would benefit from living above the club, not to mention future employees," Arthur said, his cheeks going redder as Merlin refused to look away. The words, _to get you away from the creep of a boyfriend_, began clawing their way up Arthur's throat. Merlin seemed to hear this unspoken sentence and frowned.

"I don't think Will would approve of me moving out just to be closer to work," Merlin replied, but there was an air to his voice that suggested he was up for being persuaded. Arthur didn't reply right away, his brain running a mile a minute to come up with something not too pushy that would make Merlin's defences come up, but also something Merlin wouldn't be able to deny either.

"Are you- are you happy Merlin?" Arthur asked softly. "With Will?" Merlin looked into Arthur's eyes with an intensity that made Arthur think he was trying to convey everything he couldn't say.

"I-" the door to the club opened, cutting Merlin off as he stood from his crouched position before Arthur and turned to Uther and Lance.

"Arthur!" Uther called, his voice angered to mask his worry and fear. "What happened?" he asked coming to a stop and crouching before Arthur as Merlin backed away to stand beside Lance, looking awkward as he grasped his hands together for something to do.

"I wasn't paying attention," Arthur replied. "Nothing very dramatic, just sheer dumb idiocy on my part." Uther shook his head, but his relief was clear in his eyes as he inspected Arthur's hand.

"Lance is right, this is going to need stiches, come on, I'll drive you to the hospital," Uther said standing, helping Arthur to his feet as he did so.

"Arthur wait," Merlin called as Uther and Arthur reached the door. Arthur turned back and met Merlin's uneasy gaze. Merlin looked to Lance and Uther uncomfortably before turning back to Arthur. "I- I like your idea," he said with an uncomfortable shrug, before a mischievous grin spread across his face. "Let's cause a riot," he winked. "Should be fun."

**Merry Christmas Everybody! (despite the fact that when I upload it, it so won't be Christmas – unless it's 2012's Christmas – which could by all possibilities happen – won't know till I upload though now will I?) O.o**


	2. Chapter 2

**My best friends dad died this morning (4:00AM 4/3/12), and I needed to distract myself, so I'm not exactly sure where my minds going to take this.**

**Club Camelot**

**Part 2**

**Drugs, Sex and a Theft**

Arthur ended up having to have nine stitches to close the wound in his hand, and after spending hour upon boring hour in the hospital with the only entertainment being his drug addled brain, he'd finally been sent home to a very unhappy cat whom had yet to have her dinner. He'd been told to take it easy on his hand for a while, which meant he really couldn't do anything to help Gwaine at the bar, but compared with sitting around all day watching TV, Arthur would much rather be bugging Gwaine and seeing Merlin.

He glared down at his bandaged hand as he sat down at a bar stool once arriving at work, while Gwaine unload the dishwasher. It was about six in the evening, which mean that they didn't open for another two hours, and even then, it would be another hour, hour and a half till the club was thriving with men and business. Uther didn't great him as he went up to the office, only glared in disappointment, to which Arthur grinned. At about seven the dances started showing up. Lance, Gwen and Merlin showed up first, then Freya and Vivian, closely followed by Leon and then Percy and Cedric, who were the only other male dances. Elena, a female dancer who Arthur hadn't actually been introduced to yet, arrived last.

"I don't know what you're expecting to do," Gwaine said as Arthur's eyes followed Merlin from the dressing rooms to the stage where he sat to tie up his shoes. "Not much you can be doing at the bar."

"I thought Leon and I could swop places till my hand heals," Arthur suggested, to which Gwaine shrugged. They didn't speak much after that as Arthur sat, bored as all hell. Then Merlin was at his side. "Hey," Arthur said, slight shock lacing his voice, the boy sure moved quietly. "Ever thought of trying to be a ninja?" Merlin smiled at this.

"Just thought I'd see how you were," Merlin said taking the stool next to him, a warm spark in his eyes. "I didn't expect you to be back so soon."

"Well it was either come in here or sit around doing nothing at home," Arthur replied as Gwaine continued to shuffle about behind the counter, a small smile quirking his lips. The girls joined them a few moments later. Arthur found it quite interesting that despite Gwen and Freya being excellent dancers, they were incredibly shy and conserved.

"Arthur this is Elena," Gwen said indicating the red head at her side.

"Nice to meet you," Arthur said, about to extend his right hand to shake before he thought better of it and simply smiled with a nod of his head.

"Same," Elena grinned cheerfully. Arthur quickly came to appreciate the bubbly attitude of the small red head. Unlike Gwen and Freya, though wonderful girls they were, Elena had a bit more Gwaine in her, not enough to make Arthur want to strangle her like the flamboyant male who seemed to not know when to shut up, but enough to make conversations interesting. Elena knew how to hold a conversation on her own, but welcomed others inputs with encouragement and flare. Before Arthur knew it, it was eight and Uther was opening the doors up into the foyer, kicking a chock of wood beneath it to keep it open. Arthur found he thoroughly enjoyed conversing with Elena, she seemed to have a valid and intelligent opinion on just about anything, and debated her argument when Arthur disagreed, with such energy, Arthur was momentarily found breathless and struggling for a coherent reply. Arthur was saved having to reply to Elena's latest argument when Uther came before them all, calling for attention.

"We don't have long before people start turning up, but I just wanted to quickly go over an idea Arthur has had about the upstairs rooms. As I'm sure you're all aware, commuting to work is a problem for more than half of you here. Now I am pleased to know that despite this, you have not all gone looking elsewhere for employment, but this matter does need to be addressed," Uther spoke, not really meeting anyone's eyes long enough for them actually register it, but instead sweeping his gaze over them now and then as he paced before them.

"Arthur has suggested that I rent out the upstairs rooms to you all, and while I am all for having those rooms making me money – as I am a business man – the cost to bring those rooms up to living standard is far greater than I am able to fork out, no matter the profit in the long run. I have not had Arthur run the figures yet, which I will, but I can only assume it will be a large one. So what I'm really asking you all, is will this benefit you? And what will you be willing to contribute to making it happen?" this last sentence, Uther spoke after he'd stopped pacing, and actually made individual eye contact with each and every one there. It took a moment for the words to settle within the minds of the dancers, but when they did, Arthur could see a look of excitement and hope cross each and every face.

"My brother's an electrician," Gwen spoke up softly. "I'm sure I could convince him to lend us a hand for a lot less than you'd get anywhere else."

"And I'm sure I could get the water diverted up there too," Lance said, glancing down at Gwen, his arm wrapped around her waist. "I spent time as an apprentice plumber."

"Good, that'll really help," Uther said looking at the couple before looking around at the rest of them. "So who's actually interested in living upstairs?" At Uther's question, hands began going up. Merlin, Lance and Gwen's were the first, and then Elena, Vivian, Freya, Cedric and Percy's went up, one after the other. Uther nodded. "Gwaine?" he asked when the bartender was the only one's still down besides Arthur's.

"Na, I'm cool sir," Gwaine replied shaking his head. "I got this sweet place not five minutes away. A friend owed me a favour so I got the place pretty cheap. But I'm happy to lend some brawn to this plan."

"Good," Uther nodded. "Okay. Arthur, today I want you to run up some figures, see what we're looking at here, financial wise. Then see where we can squeeze some extra money from, what we can put off till next week, and what we can't. I know we just ordered another load of drinks, so that money's gotta come from somewhere, don't forget to include that in your calculations," as Uther began speaking, he turned and made his way upstairs, Arthur rushing to follow as the other's began getting ready for the night's activities.

"That's eight hands I counted going up. So, assuming Gwen and Lance are sharing, that's seven rooms we'll be needing to be get sorted, leaving two empty but for storage," Arthur said, following Uther into his office. "Will we be redoing all nine rooms or not?" Uther stopped on the other side, frowning in concentration.

"Get those figures for the nine rooms, if we can do it with employee labour we will, if not we'll go down to seven and work it out from there," Uther decided, sitting down in his chair and pulling out the financial books from the locked draw down by his right leg. Out of the corner of his eye, Arthur caught site of another desk that hadn't been there the other day. Turning, Arthur frowned, before he spotted the name plate sitting on one end, reading; Arthur Pendragon.

"You got me a desk," Arthur gasped, shocked still.

"Well you need somewhere to do your paperwork. You didn't expect me to make you sit in the staff room to do it, did you?" Uther said, a smile in his voice as he stood and made his way over to his son. Arthur looked to his father, his face still slack from shock. Uther chuckled, pressing the paper work into Arthur's hands before making his way back down stairs without another word. A slow building smile began to grow till it reached a full out grin. He knew he was getting way over excited about such a small thing, but for his father to go to the effort of ordering another desk, and sharing his working space with him, was a large step for his father to take, Arthur knew that. So it made it all the more special.

So he set himself down in his new leather clad chair and got to work with a renewed vigour. This energy soon dwindled though. Sleeves rolled up to past his elbows, hair sticking up from where he'd continuously brushed his hands through it in frustration, and fingers jabbing angrily at the calculator, Arthur genuinely felt like a fool. What had he been thinking, offering a plan like this up to these people, getting their hopes up? He had honestly thought he'd be able to do it, make this work, but it seemed, having impure motives to begin this whole thing would be his down fall. The figures just didn't add up. According to his calculations, they should have enough to pay all their bills, and to put some aside for the renovation. At first he'd been over joyed, they'd be able to do it, but when he went through all the totals, it just didn't add up, he'd made a mistake somewhere, and he didn't know where, and it frustrated the hell out of him. Maths was something he'd always been good at, something he'd always been able to rely on, but now his brain was failing him, and he was failing the business, his father. Merlin.

"This doesn't make any sense," Arthur grumbled, shoving some sheets aside and re-punching the numbers in from the top. Once again it came to the same figure, and he couldn't find out how. Unless- "No," Arthur breathed. "No, surely someone would have noticed." Arthur began shuffling through pages, flipping through old books, punching in old data scribbling down numbers on a new piece of paper. An hour later and he was still working, his eyes sore from strain and his brow permanently furrowed, he had nicks on his fingers, paper cuts, from his feverish flicking of pages, and his hand was cramping up, sore from the gash he'd recently acquired. He'd given up sitting at his desk, it was too small for what he was now doing. So he'd moved to the floor, papers and books spread out everywhere, some still over flowing from the desk, a pencil was lodged behind his ear, another in his mouth.

"Arthur?" He looked up at his name and saw a very confused Merlin standing in the door way. "Your dad sent me to come see how you were doing, said you'd been at it for hours," Merlin explained slowly, moving into the room, though keeping his distance from the frazzled looking Arthur. "What are you doing?"

"Get him, now," Arthur said, standing and running a hand over his tiered face.

"What?" Merlin asked, not entirely happy with Arthur's ordering tone, but curious all the same.

"Uther," Arthur managed to get out. "Hurry, please, I have to speak with him immediately," Arthur added as he moved back to his desk and began riffling through the papers at a hurried pace, desperate to find last year's billing sheets.

"Uh, yeah okay," Merlin muttered before going to look for Uther. Arthur now had the answer, though not the one he'd originally gone looking for, but one that was related to it, and one with much more dire circumstances. He now understood why none of his figures had added up, and having taken that into account, he found they could scrape by with their current income and afford to fix up the nine rooms upstairs.

"Arthur, what happened here?" Uther asked, stalking into the office with the air of ownership, though at the sight of the books and papers littering the floor, his posture shifted. Merlin was hot on his heels, though Uther hadn't specifically asked him to return with him, Merlin's curiosity was his weakness, and so he followed.

"You're being robed," Arthur spat out in a hurry, his hands still moving over the sheets, flicking down numbers with his blunt grey led.

"What?" Uther asked, stepping over the piles of paper to stand before Arthur's desk. Arthur thrust a sheet into Uther's hand, to which he looked down at confused. "What am I looking for?" Without explaining Arthur ripped the paper from Uther's hand and began pacing, his mind running a mile a minute.

"The figures weren't adding up, and I stupidly, _stupidly_, thought I'd made a mistake. When have I ever made a mistake in Maths, never! So I looked again and again and I just couldn't see it, I couldn't understand why my equations gave me the wrong answer, so then I looked to the source, because if my calculations were right, then they had to be wrong, but that didn't make any sense," Arthur paused for a breath.

"Arthur I don't understand, I-" Uther began.

"Then it hit me," Arthur said, cutting Uther off as if he'd never heard him, turning on the spot and meeting his father's eyes, fire in his own. "Money was going missing! But why wouldn't you notice this? I just couldn't understand how someone could just take money without anyone seeing it. So I went back, and I found out that as far back as last April, money was being taken out of the accounts. Small portions at first, hardly noticeable, but as months went on , the amounts grew, to the size it is right now; two hundred and sixty pounds a night. Which added all up, is a total of about three and a half thousand pounds." Arthur stopped then, his breathing hard after his long rant. Uther was watching him, as was Merlin, but where Merlin's gaze was of shock, admiration and surprise, Uther's was one of anger, rage and murder. "So the question is; who started last April?"

"Viv," Merlin breathed, before clamping his hands over his mouth, his eyes wide in terror at his slip.

"I'll have to check the records, but yes, I do believe that was the time Vivian started," Uther said in a gentle deadly voice. "Thank you for bringing this to light Arthur," Uther stated emotionless before storming from the room. Arthur was still breathing heavily as he watched his father depart, his eyes were still wide and his blood still pumped with adrenalin, like it had been for the past couple of hours.

"I just got someone fired," Arthur breathed, sinking to the floor, not sure whether to feel regret or not, his hands shaking as he came down from his high.

"Well if what you say is right, she deserves it," Merlin stated after a moment, making his way across the minefield of paper and books to sit by Arthurs side against the wall.

"I can't imagine how father feels," Arthur said, running a hand back through his hair. "After all he's poured into this place, widowed once, divorced twice because of it, and to have someone taking money behind his back," Arthur let the sentence hang in the air, shaking his head. They both remained silent as Arthur's breathing settled once more.

"That was very impressive you know," Merlin mumbled. "You know, how you figured that all out just from a bunch of numbers." Arthur chuckled, paused for a moment, sighed, and then stood, ruffling Merlin's hair in the process. "Hey! I do believe I was just complementing you," Merlin huffed with a pout as he stood. "Clotpole."

"Idiot," Arthur chuckled. Merlin glared at him for a moment, but couldn't help the laugh that eventually escaped him. They started making their way back across the room, Arthur groaning about all the papers he would now have to clean up and re-order as Merlin looked back across the room at the calendar, pulling Arthur to a stop.

"Today the fourth?" Merlin inquired.

"Yeah," Arthur replied, following his gaze. "You got a date or something?" He'd meant it as a joke, but hadn't expected the fear to clench his heart as it did.

"With that Witch? Hell no," Merlin said, his face paling. "You're sisters nice and all, but she can be rather scary sometimes. And morbid."

"Morgana?" Arthur asked as they made their way down the corridor, headed for the stairs.

"Yeah, she promised to come on the fourth. Said the costumes would be done by then," Merlin replied.

"New costumes huh?" Arthur said, a grin stretching his lips, for a reason Arthur didn't want to acknowledge.

"Yeah, though I'm rather curious to see what she's come up this time, I'm surprised she hasn't run out of ideas. She's had us in cat costumes, these butler costumes, several different steam punk ones, Victorian era stuff – which left me with a fondness for top hats – um, we were pirates at one stage, all elegant yet she still managed to incorporating torn rages somehow," Merlin prattled on as they descended to the ground floor.

"I'd have like to of seen that," Arthur mused, imagining Merlin in all the different costumes he was describing, letting his mind alter them to be as scandalous as he dared, before shaking them away. Merlin sent him a curious glance then, which Arthur refused to meet. "So," Arthur began, trying to dispel the awkwardness that'd befallen them. "Why're you off stage?"

"Oh, well it's one of those rare night's where all us blokes are here; Lance, Percy, Cedric and me," Merlin replied, following Arthur to the bar, though there was something in his voice, a weariness that had been absent before.

"So," Merlin started this time as he and Arthur took their seats at the bar, Gwaine had his back to them, reaching up to replace the wine glasses along the wall beside the mirror. "You and Elena seemed to get along well."

"Yeah," Arthur replied, unsure what had led the dark hair man to choose this line of conversation. "She's smart, funny, outgoing. She's a nice girl," Arthur replied with a shrug, looking to her as she dance then back to Merlin. Something like hurt flashed across Merlin's features, but it disappeared too quickly for Arthur to be sure.

"Yeah, well, I better get back up there," Merlin mumbled, slipping from his stool hastily and making his way to the stage. Arthur watched Merlin go confused.

"Arthur, you're such a twat," Gwaine said from behind him.

"What? Why?" Arthur asked, turning to look at Gwaine's back. "What'd I do?" Gwaine just shook his head and placed a beer on the counter before Arthur.

"Have that, maybe it'll help," Gwaine muttered with another shake of his head, before his eyes caught something behind Arthur's back that made him grin. "And there's my girl." Arthur had just taken a sip when Morgana appeared at his side, leaned over the counter, and planted her big red lips against Gwaines. Arthur nearly inhaled beer. Spluttering through it, Arthur winced, at the burn in his throat, but also from the display.

"Oh god, I did not just see that," Arthur groaned, glaring from Morgana to Gwaine.

"Oh Arthur, you're such a prude," Morgana said with a roll of her eyes as she sat herself down beside Arthur.

"So I'm a clotpole, a twat, and now a prude, is it pick on Arthur day or something," Arthur asked sipping at his beer again.

"Didn't you get the memo?" Morgana asked innocently, to which Arthur sneered.

"Who called you a clotpole?" Gwaine asked. "What is a clotpole anyway?"

"I don't know, ask Merlin," Arthur replied with a shrug. "So where are these costume's you made, I'm eager to see what the latest creations been," Arthur muttered condescendingly at his sister, who sneered at him in the exact same manner he had sneered at her in.

"They're in my car," she glared. "Leon's getting them now," she added as Gwaine poured her a red wine. "Actually, you could probably go give him a hand, you know, if you've got nothing better to do."

"We'll he's got _a_ hand to spare, the other one's not going to be much use," Gwaine answered for Arthur. Morgana looked from Gwaine, to Arthur, then down to his bandaged hand. An angry sigh left her and she rolled her eyes.

"Oh Arthur, what have you done to yourself now?" she exclaimed as she gripped his wrist and examined the bandaged hand, as if she expected to find the answer written on it.

"Leant down on a broken bit of glass, needed nine stitches," Arthur explained, pulling his hand back before picking up his beer with his good hand and taking a sip. "But I'll be able to help Leon out, it should be fine," Arthur stated as he rose and made his way to the door.

"You're such a martyr Arthur," Morgana called after him. Arthur just shook his head and made his way into the cold night air, looking left then right in search of Leon. He found him at the end of the road, struggling with a pile of suit bags.

"Could she have parked any farther away?" Leon asked him as Arthur took hold of half the pile. Arthur laughed good humouredly as they made their way back up the road.

"She lives to make other's lives difficult, it's the job description of eldest sister," Arthur explained.

"Ah, so I have you to thank for this," Leon chuckled as he stepped into the foyer. "Hey Viv, where're you going?" Vivian came at them like a bat out of hell, but Leon didn't seem to see this till it was too late.

"Now, Viv, I know what you're thinking, but-" Arthur began, backing up as the blonde advanced on him, her face distorted in rage.

"Bastard!" Vivian shrieked, swinging her fist as hard as she could. Now Arthur could look after himself, after taking boxing lessons, joining the track team, he was fit and he knew how to defend himself, but place him- hell, place any male before a raging female, and he didn't stand a chance. Now top that off by making one of his hands useless, and the other clutching a bunch of bags that if he damaged, he'd have to face the wrath of an even angrier female. So when Vivian's fist came flying towards his face, Arthur didn't have much choice but to take it all in stride. He managed to step backwards fast enough that her fist swing went wide of the mark, but then the next thing he knew, there was an elbow in his check, sending him rattling into the door frame.

"Vivian, what the hell!" Leon had finally acted, smart enough to first deposit the cloth bags on the front desk first. His arms clutched at Vivian, who raked her nails down his arm, actually drawing blood, but he did managed to stop her attack.

"Let me go!" she shrieked, and Arthur was oddly enough reminded of his lessons in classical history, and the harpies of Greek mythology.

"Only if you promise not to attack us," Leon stated, to which she seemed to deflate at. He cautiously released her, jumping when she spun round and grasped her bag from the floor, before launching herself out the door, elbowing Arthur once more in the process. "What was that about?" Leon gasped, watching her stalk down the street.

"She just got fired I'm guessing," Arthur replied, rubbing his sore cheek.

"Why?" Leon asked, taking the cloths bags from Arthur.

"I just discovered she'd been stealing from Uther," Arthur replied, following Leon over to the front desk where the other bags were. Leon lay the other cloths bags on top before turning to Arthur.

"Wow, she really did give you quite the shiner didn't she?" Leon muttered turning Arthur's head to the side to check his cheek out. "That's already started bruising."

"Great, just what I need," Arthur groaned as he picked up half the stack of cloths once more and heading through to the main room. He and Leon deposited the new cloths in the seamstresses room before heading back out, Leon to the foyer, and Arthur back to the bar to finish his drink before cleaning up the office. Morgana was gone by the time Arthur got back, either having left already, or gone off in search of Uther, he didn't know. Gwaine took one look at Arthur, nodded knowingly and began searching behind the counter before coming up with a tube of cream.

"Heard the shouting," Gwaine explained, handing Arthur the cream. "That'll help with the bruising."

"Thanks," Arthur muttered, pocketing the cream, downing the rest of his beer and turning to head back up stairs. He froze for a split second, his heart in his throat, and his jaw clenched as he watched Merlin lead a man down to the back rooms. With a shake of his head Arthur made his way back upstairs, not catching Gwaine's sympathetic glance. Uther and Morgana where in the office when he got back. Uther behind his desk, Morgana before it, looking livid.

"How on earth did that harlot managed to steal from the great Uther Pendragon?" Morgana was demanding when Arthur was in hearing distance. Arthur rolled his eyes and began picking up the papers littering the floor.

"Morgana, now is not the time. We don't as of yet know how she managed to take money from the business, she wasn't exactly forthcoming when I confronted her," Uther replied, noticing Arthur over Morgana's shoulder. "Arthur, what is that on your cheek?" Uther asked confused.

"Nothing father," Arthur said with a slight smile, shaking his head and turning his attention back to the papers he was soughing. The rest of the night past uneventfully, and by the time Arthur had finished cleaning up and was ready to leave, it was only he and Morgana who remained at Club Camelot. His father had asked if he should stay back, to make sure he locked up properly – obviously worried about security now that he'd been stolen from right under his nose – but both Morgana and Arthur had insisted that Arthur was more than capable of locking up for the night. "So what's this month's theme?" Arthur asked as they slowly made their way done the street to Morgana's car.

"Hmm?" Morgana hummed, lost in thought. "Oh, well you'll just have to wait and see, won't you?" Morgana replied when Arthur's words registered. Arthur just shook his head and opened Morgana's door for her.

"Are you incapable of giving me a straight answer?" Arthur asked, leaning over the door. Morgana thought for a moment.

"No, see?" Morgana said with a grin. "That was a straight answer." Arthur rolled his eyes.

"Good night Morgana," Arthur muttered as he stood straight, letting go of the car door.

"You too Arthur dearie," Morgana replied before slamming her door shut. Arthur turned before she pulled out, and was halfway back to the front of Club Camelot when she sped past, beeping her horn and giving him a wave. Arthur returned the wave, not for the first time wondering how his sister's mind worked. It seemed as though she had made a decision to never be nice to him in front of anyone, yet had no trouble acting civil when alone. Arthur shook his head, hands buried deep in his pockets as he made his way to his car around the corner. He decided he shouldn't be shocked though, everyone in his family was odd in some way or another.

Arthur made his way home, fed his cat, and went to bed, though it was another couple of hours before he finally dozed off, to awaken at the alarming time of two PM. Even then he fell back asleep, waking to an insisting scratching noise. So, feeling like the living dead Arthur made his way to the kitchen and fed his cat before standing – swaying slightly – to watch it eat, which seemed to be its prime function. His eyes eventually strayed to the clock, telling him that it was currently 7:32, meaning, he had under half an hour to get to work on time. After that it was sort of a blur. Arthur rushed from room to room, chucking on items of cloths and locating his keys, wallet and hair brush. He was out the door at twenty too, which he hoped gave him enough time to make it to the club. As it was, he walked through the foyer at two minutes to.

"You sure took your time," Gwaine said as Arthur slipped behind the bar, pulling off his jacket and fixing his braces before noticing Gwaine was wearing a different outfit. Instead of the white shirt, black vest, he was wearing a dusty cream coloured shirt – sleeves rolled up – with a brown vest with no buttons so it fell open, and instead of the black tailored pants, he had on what looked to be the brown version, only they sat tighter around the thighs and butt.

"Right," Arthur breathed. "Morgana made new costumes."

"Yeah, yours is hanging up in room six," Gwaine told him.

"What's the theme?" Arthur asked slipping back onto the other side of the bar.

"Sort of a cross between steam punk and star wars," Gwaine replied as Arthur turned from him, almost running right into Gwen, who, at a closer look, seemed to be wearing a costume similar to when Princess Laia was kidnapped by Juba the Hut, only it had flowing silk hanging from several places to obscure some of the skin. Arthur shook the thoughts of star wars from his mind, and instead focused on apologising to Gwen.

In room 6 Arthur found an outfit identical to Gwaine's and quickly changed, leaving his other cloths neatly folded on the bench that ran along one side of the room. Re-joining Gwaine back at the bar, Arthur was about to make a crack at how the pants seemed quite feminie, when his eyes snagged on Merlin already on the stage doing stretches. He wore long tan coloured pants that hugged his legs all the way down to his ankles, they were cut off where butt met leg, as if to make shorts, but then were re-attached with a strap of brown leather and a copper buckle so they exposed a strip of pale flesh. His shirt was similar in colour to the one Arthur and Gwaine wore, but that was as far as the parallels went. Instead of long sleeves and tucked into the pants, Merlin's was cut short to expose the muscular flesh of his abdomen. A strap of leather, similar to that of the ones on his pants, ran along the bottom of the shirt, gripping it tightly to his skin, and from it, thinner strips of leather crossed over his stomach, connecting the top to the pants.

Arthur took in a shuddering breath, closed his eyes and turned away from the stage. When he opened his eyes again, Gwaine was watching him, a knowing look in his eyes, but he said nothing. The night went very much like when Arthur had first arrived, with the only exception being, that instead of drifting to the female's side of the bar whenever Merlin made his way over, he spent the _whole_ night away from the males side. Again Gwaine said nothing, but Arthur knew the blessed silence would not last. Morgana had arrived five minutes after they'd opened to make sure all the costumes fit and were comfortable, and she kept him busy for the most part when he wasn't serving customers, but when he got the chance, Gwaine didn't hesitate to grin knowingly in Arthur's direction.

He helped Gwaine as much as he could with one hand, but it got too tiering, for both of them. So for the second half of the night, he and Leon swapped places and he took the door, away from physical labour, and away from Merlin. It was early in the morning when Uther came looking for him. Most of the patrons had already departed, leaving only a handful inside.

"Arthur I have a favour to ask of you," Uther said in his business tone, but Arthur could see the vulnerability behind his words, and even if he couldn't, the words themselves would have rang some bells. His father never asked for help.

"What's up?" Arthur asked, mimicking his father's emotionless tone.

"I know you have a place, and you just got settled in, but would you consider taking one of the rooms upstairs?" Uther asked. Arthur, paused before replying, thinking the request over.

"Why?" Arthur asked, leaning on the desk before him and setting his eyes on his father.

"I thought I could trust everyone who worked for me, as you said, they're like a family. But I was proven wrong regarding Vivian, and I don't want to be put in the same position again where my trust is wrongly placed," Uther replied sternly. "If you were to live here with the other employees, you would be able to lock off the downstairs rooms after everyone has settled in," Uther continued, looking away and settling his gaze on the far wall. "I don't feel comfortable leaving them all here without either you or I present." Arthur nodded in understanding.

"I have a cat," Arthur replied. Uther looked at him amused.

"That wouldn't be a problem," Uther replied with a slight smile.

"Okay then," Arthur said nodding. "I guess I'm moving in." Uther smiled and clasped his hand on Arthur's shoulder before turning and making his way back into the club. Arthur hadn't expected a 'thank you', no more than the shoulder clasp and smile anyway. Arthur shrugged, watching a few patrons make their way across the foyer and into the cold night air, at least he hadn't finished unpacking. Then a thought hit him and he groaned, dropping his head into his hands. He and Merlin would be living next door to each other. How had that escaped his mind when his father had asked? His mind went blank for a second before he began to debate whether or not he would have answered differently.

The rest of the night passed in a haze of uneventful events, as did the following three days, with the only exception being a reappearance of Vivian. However, even this added little drama to the atmosphere, she'd simply come to pick up what she'd left behind in the back rooms, and was monitored the entire time she was in Club Camelot to prevent any past (unfortunate) events from repeating. The end of the week was nearing when Arthur next heard from Morgana, her no-nonsense tone stating he had to come round after his shift ended so she could correct the measurements of his work uniform. With Morgana, work and Uther – which in retrospect were all one in the same – keeping him busy, he was only able to manage to keep two conversations with Merlin going. The first had been while Gwaine was busy bringing in the drinks in crates (as Arthur's hand was still on the mend) and the club had hit a slow patch, freeing up both Arthur and Merlin's time and the second had been after closing during a storm. Uther had disappeared early on in the night instructing Arthur to close up, and Merlin had begged him to let him stay till Will txted saying he was on his way so he didn't have to wait out in the rain. Both times added up to little over twenty minutes, but compared to the rushed 'hi's' and 'bye's' that made up the rest of their conversions, this was a record.

When the weekend finally rolled around, Arthur had finally finished the full list of calculations of costs and expenses Uther would have to fork out to get the rooms up to working order. Even with taking into consideration the work both Lance and Gwen's brother were willing to do free of charge – as when Gwen contacted her brother and explained the situation, he had promptly told her that he would not except a dime, though would happily take a couple of beers off their hands – the full cost was higher than Arthur had originally anticipated. However, when explaining this to Uther, he had shown no signs of worry, caution or disappointment, he'd simply nodded once, looked up at Arthur and said-

"Better get to it then. I'll start making some calls." Arthur left Uther alone in his office without another word when it became apparent he intended to make these calls that second. In a bit of a daze at how easily Uther had taken the news, Arthur made his way back to the bar, slipping beneath the bench door as Gwaine finished serving a well-dressed male who then made his way to the male dancers side of the room. Arthur found it funny that he had become so accustomed to his irrational state of mind that when his thoughts changing from thinking of the individual as nothing more than a well-dressed gentleman, to a sleazy perv, in the span of a second, he didn't even bat an eye.

"Hey man, you alright? You look pretty out of it," Gwaine asked, leaning forward on the bench next to me as I stood, my back to the room.

"Yeah, no, nothing's wrong," Arthur replied, accepting the drink Gwaine handed him, after all; he deserved a treat after the hours he'd spent labouring over paperwork. "I just wasn't expecting this whole renovation thing upstairs to go quite so smoothly I guess. Then again we haven't actually started yet, so you know, plenty of time for things to go wrong."

"Dude, what's your definition of 'smoothly'?" Gwaine chuckled, sipping generously at his drink. "Having to scrape enough money together to even consider getting the rooms up to living standards, on top of the whole Vivian fiasco. Those are two pretty big pot holes in the road in my book."

"Maths I can deal with. Hell, even crazy, sluty, thieving, self-righteous blondes I can deal with," Arthur stated, mimicking Gwaine's position so he could gaze out at the club, allowing himself a moment of temptation as his eyes fell on Merlin, his skin glistening beneath the stage lights as his body moved to the ever present music. "I guess I was just expecting the worst to tell you the truth."

"And that would be?" Gwaine inquired.

"Total and utter failure on my part," Arthur replied with a sheepish smile tilting one side of his mouth. The remainder of the night went like most other nights had; with nothing but work to fill the time till closing, and though rest stops between customers were few and far between, Arthur still found time for his thoughts to stray to the blue eyed dark haired boy twirling about on stage. Arthur was happy to note that it had been at least three nights since Merlin had agreed to go to the back rooms with a client, and it seemed his fast had continued on to tonight. So it was with a skip in his step that Arthur made his way back to his place at four o'clock in the morning the next day. For once everything seemed to be running on course, adding up to the correct answers with no unaccounted outliers to worry about to screw with the calculations. With the realisation that he'd started thinking of his life in maths terms, Arthur closed his eyes and banished all thought from his head, opening a way for a peaceful night's sleep. For it only seemed fit that his winning streak would come to an end at yet another win.

.oO0Oo.

"Have you seen Gwen?" Lance's fearful voice greeted Arthur as he stepped through into the main area of Club Camelot. Arthur took a moment to look from the worry etched into every line in the face of the man before him, to Gwaine's sympathetic look before returning to Lance.

"No?" Arthur drawled out, slipping his coat over his arm as his eyes once again sort our Gwaine in the hopes he could shed light on this sudden assault. "Should I have?" Lance seemed to deflate right on the spot, his hands coming up to roughly card through his hair, leaving it sticking up in a fashion of one who had been electrocuted.

"I've been looking for her all day, I thought at least I'd be able to find her here but no one's seen her," Lance explained as Arthur maneuverer him towards the bar.

"When's the last time you saw her?" Gwaine asked as he leant forward on the bar.

"Last night after work," Lance replied. "We went home, ate, went to bed. And when I woke up at midday she was gone. I've been trying and trying her on her mobile but she just won't pick up."

"Has anything like this happened before?" Arthur asked, sighing when Lance shook his head.

"And I can't for the life of me think of any explanation as to where she's gone," Lance groaned, dropping his head to the bar. Gwaine and Lance shared a worrying look before Arthur was whisked away by Freya under orders from Uther to deliver him to his office. With a pat to Lance's back, which Arthur was unsure was supposed to be reassuring or sympathetic, Arthur made his way upstairs, assuring Freya he could get himself to his father's office.

"From what I've gone over of your calculations, all seems to be in order," were the first words from Uther's mouth, before Arthur had even closed the door behind him. "I've made some calls, and besides the electricity and plumbing, we've still got to worry about hygiene, furbishing and making sure the rooms are still structurally sound. A builder will be around next Thursday, and I've hired a cleaner for the Friday to steam clean all the rooms, so as long as all goes well with the builder I won't have to cancel." Uther stood and began clearing away stacks of paper from his desk. "If all goes according to plan the rooms should be ready for furnishing, plumbing and being set up with electricity next weekend."

"That was quick," Arthur breathed without thought as he sat himself down in the chair opposite Uthers desk.

"Yes well I saw no reason to put it off," Uther muttered sliding a book back into place on the wall cabinet before returning to his desk. "All this means is that I'll have to request a few members of staff stay back each night of the week after closing to get the rooms emptied starting effective immediately." Arthur nodded, opened his mouth to comment on how that shouldn't be a problem, before closing it when there was a knock on the door. "Come in," Uther called. Arthur smiled when Gwen poked her head around the door, quickly followed into the room with a relieved looking Lance. The smile slid from his face when he noticed the red skin ringing her eyes.

"What's wrong?" Arthur asked, standing before his father had a chance to inquire after the same question.

"Um," Gwen began, her voice wavering slightly, her eyes glistening anew as she looked down at the envelop in her hands. Without a word, for fear of her voice failing her, Gwen walked forward and handed Uther the letter. With a glance to Arthur, Uther tore the envelope open with the silver letter opener, a miniature replica of a sword that sat on his desk. Uther's eyes skimmed over the letter in lightning speed, and after only a few seconds he sighed.

"Thank you Gwen," Uther said, allowing a small uncharacteristic smile to land on the dark girl. "Lance, take her back down stairs, get Gwaine to get her something to drink, and try and calm her down," Uther instructed folding the letter back into thirds. With an arm around Gwen's waist Lance led her from the room, closing the door silently behind them.

"What is it?" Arthur inquired when he was once again alone with his father. With another sigh, Uther handed the folded sheet of paper to his son. The first think that caught his eye once the paper was unfurled was the hastily written signature at the base of the page; Merlin.

_Uther,_

_I am incredibly sorry to have to bail out on you again, believe me when I say if I could be there I would be. If this costs me my job I understand, but if it doesn't I can promise you that once I move out from Wills place nothing like this will happen again. But at the moment, for personal reasons, I cannot make it into the club tonight._

_-Merlin_

Arthur red through the letter twice before folding it back up and sliding it onto his father's desk. Pinching the bridge of his nose Arthur attempted to quell the rage at this man he had never met, before raising his eyes and meeting his fathers, who's hid a similar boiling anger.

"Will this cost him his job?" Arthur asked in a tight voice. Uther shook his head and Arthur let out a sigh of gratitude.

"No, if we weren't planning on putting up our employee's here then maybe, but I believe Merlin when he says that once he's out of Will's clutches we won't see repeat occurrences," Uther assured his son. With a shake of his head Uther dispelled the current line of conversation. "I'll call a meeting after work tonight, if people can't stay behind to help clean out the upstairs rooms after hours I'll have to take some of the dancers off the stage during working hours to work upstairs." Arthur nodded, attempting to follow his father's example and stay on topic, but it was difficult knowing Merlin was currently with Will, his (hopefully soon to be ex-)boyfriend.

Once back down stairs, Arthur couldn't help notice the great void left behind from the lack of Merlin's presence. It was as if the stage was bare, despite the other dancers. The men watching the male dancer's side of the stage began drifting out earlier than they did most other nights, leading Lance, Percy and Cedric to sit at the bar, flirting casually with the other male patrons seated there, who all appeared, despite all seeming to be straight, to take it in good humour. Eventually the girl dancers began floating over to the bar as well, as the rest of the club had drifted out into the night.

"Tonight was a bit of a blow to ones ego wouldn't you say?" Cedric muttered to Percy who laughed grinning.

"I do agree, it appears, hands down, Merlin is the most popular among us guys," Percy replied. Arthur hadn't really been paying attention to the conversation until that point, his eyes trained on the glass in his hands prior to the mention of Merlin's name. When Merlin's name did register Arthur's eyes shot up, making Gwaine grin and shoot knowing looks his way. Arthur frowned and turned his back to the group, placing the cup he'd been drying for the last five minutes away. A phone trilling made Arthur look back, the group had fallen silent.

"Behind you Arthur," Gwaine said, tilting his head to the wall behind Arthur, his hands busy drying another glass. Arthur turned, noticing for the first time a black mobile plugged into the outlet on the back wall. Throwing his towel over his shoulder Arthur picked up the mobile, snapped it open and pressed the green talk button.

"Club Camelot, Arthur speaking, how may I help you?" Arthur said in a flat tone, leaning against the bench. "Hello?" Arthur asked after three seconds of silence. Arthur called down the line once more after another few seconds of silence, and just before Arthur went to hang up, a voice replied.

"_Arthur_?" his name was punctuated by a loud sniff.

"Yes?" Arthur said slowly, the voice on the other end too distorted to make out the owner.

"_It's Merlin_," the voice replied. Arthur felt his stomach drop and his skin prickle, his eyes making their way across the curious expressions of the people before him, before stopping on Gwaine.

"Are you alright?" Arthur asked cautiously. There was a strangled sob on the other end of the line, making Arthur's breath come short. From the look in Gwaines eyes he could deduce who was on the other end of the line.

"_No_," was the cried reply Arthur eventually got.

"Where are you?" Arthur asked, succeeding in calming his voice into a professional tone.

"_Wills_," once again the answer was sobbed out. "_I locked myself in the downstairs bathroom, and I don't know if he's still in the flat_."

"What's his address, I'll come get you," Arthur stated, pulling the phone charger out of the phone.

"_It's- Shit it's- Fuck I can't think_!" Arthur was pretty sure he heard something bang on Merlin's end of the line.

"Merlin it's fine, calm down," Arthur breathed as calmly as he could manage before his eyes sought Gwaine's again. "Do you know Wills address?"

"Yeah," Gwaine nodded, dropping his towel on the bench. "I'll drive. Make sure you keep him on the line."

"Gwaine and I are on our way," Arthur said down the line. "I want you to stay on the phone okay? And don't leave the bath room, keep the door locked."

"_Kay_," Merlin sniffed in reply. They drove in mostly silence, Arthur too distracted with listening to the small sniffs and near silent sobs coming from the phone to even think about starting up small talk.

"Is he still on the line?" Gwaine asked, fifteen minutes into the drive.

"Yeah," Arthur breathed, not thinking to take his mouth away from the phone. "I can hear him crying."

"_I heard that_," Merlin mumbled back, still sniffing. Arthur smiled, chuckling softly into the phone. "_Arthur, I'm sorry_," Merlin said after a couple of minutes in silence.

"What for?" Arthur asked, assuming he meant having to come pick him up, but that was nothing to be sorry for.

"_This is my fault_," Merlin replied, his voice tight with fresh tears.

"Merlin, this isn't your fault," Arthur said after a moment in which he used to calm his voice so he didn't snap at him for the shear absurdity of the statement.

"_Yes it is_," Merlin muttered, his tone hushed in what Arthur could only deduce was fear. "_We were arguing and I let slip I was moving out_," Merlin continued in a broken whisper. "_And he hit me_." Arthur's jaw clenched so fast he nearly bit his tongue. "_I tried to run but he grabbed my arm_." Arthur was barely aware of the looks of concern Gwaine was throwing his way. "_I scratched at his arm trying to make him let go, and he threw me into- he pushed me into the banister_." A slow ringing was building in Arthur's ears, moon shapes dug into his palm from his finger nails, almost drawing blood. "_And I tripped_." Merlin voice was so soft now, as if he were telling a secret, one he was sure to be punished for telling. "_And I fell_." Arthur barely registered Gwaine state they were almost there, too locked onto the pain and fear in Merlin's broken voice. "_Down the stairs_." At this Arthur was sure he stopped breathing, and by the sudden glance Gwaine threw his way, he noticed. "_Will was just looking at me, he was just staring, frozen_." Merlin went on, Gwaine's voice penetrating only enough for Arthur to know they were on Wills street. "_I should have run for the door, but I couldn't stop looking at him, he looked so angry_." Gwaine was indicating now. "_I just started backing up, and then I was in the bathroom, so I locked myself in. I didn't know what else to do_."

"We're here," Arthur breathed, barely recognising his own voice. He and Gwaine exited the car, Arthur wanted to spring into action, to run for the door and break it down, but his body was in shock, moving slowly and sluggishly as he followed Gwaine to the door. In his ear Merlin was whimpering, painful broken sobs breaking free of his chest. Gwaine pulled from his pocket a clasp of keys, flicking through them till he found the right one, inserting it into the lock and turning. The door opened up to a small foyer, a stair case to the left, and a door Arthur could only assume was for the bathroom to the right. Gwaine made for the door to the right, nocking lightly on it, whispering Merlin's name. Arthur kept his eyes trained on the top of the stairs, but when Merlin stumbled forward into Gwaine's supportive arms, Will was the last thought on his mind. A massive purple bruise blossomed from the corner of Merlin's eye, spreading down over his cheek and coming to a stop just below the corner of his mouth. A gash, bright red with blood, sat above his eye brow, and a thin smear of blood donned his chin, swiped there from his split lip. A black long sleeved shirt covered Merlin's arms, one of which he was favouring considerably, but Arthur knew they would be black and blue from the description Merlin gave him of the conflict he'd endured. Merlin had no eye liner on this time, but the tear streaks down his cheeks were just as striking, just as heart wrenchingly obvious.

Without a word Gwaine ushered Merlin from the house. Arthur wanted to stay, to make his way up the stairs and find Will, to inflict the same damage, and more, that he had done to Merlin. But as Merlin and Gwaine passed him, Merlin's hand latched onto Arthurs wrist, pulling him from the house. The hold wasn't strong, Arthur could have easily pulled from the grip, but the thought of letting Merlin out of his sight, for even a second, even if that second was used pummelling the good for nothing creep who'd hurt Merlin, was too hard and too painful to even consider. Instead, Arthur slipped into the back seat after Merlin, who still had yet to release Arthur's wrist. The last time Arthur had seen Merlin cry, he'd offered him a hug without a second thought, but after what Merlin had been through that night, Arthur doubted physical contact would amount to much comfort. So they sat in silence in the back seat, Merlin taking what little comfort he could from his grip on Arthur's wrist. They arrived outside the hospital ten long minutes later.

"Gwaine," Merlin complained as Gwaine slipped from the driver's seat. "I don't want to go in there."

"Not a word Merlin," Gwaine said in a hushed tone, barley concealing his anger. Though Gwaine's temper was not directed at Merlin, he still flinched at his words. "You need to be checked out by a doctor," Gwaine insisted in a calmer tone, opening Arthur's door so he could get out, as apparently he still had child lock on from the last time he'd seen his kid. Arthur twisted in Merlin's grip, latching onto Merlin's wrist so he could guide Merlin from the car. Arthur noticed as Merlin stumbled out behind him, that the arm he'd been favouring was clutched to his chest, one pale fist tangled in the material at his shoulder. Instead of releasing Merlin's wrist when they were clear of the car, Arthur let his hand slid down to grasp Merlin's. Though Merlin showed no sign he'd noticed, his fingers curled tightly around Arthur's, clinging to him like a life line.

Gwaine's hand came up to Merlin's back, urging him forward while still offering comfort. Despite the ungodly hour, the emergency room was not as bear as Arthur thought it would have been. It wasn't over crowded like the last time Arthur had had to visit, but there was still only a few clusters of chairs left vacant. A nurse rushed forward after taking one look at Merlin, and ushered them towards the desk, pressing a clip board into Gwaine's unoccupied hand. The nurse handed over a paper cup of water as Gwaine began filling out the forms. After only a moment's hesitation, Arthur sat Merlin down at an empty chair to the side of the room, and crouched down in front of him, their hands still clasped.

"Where does it hurt?" Arthur asked softly after sending a scowling look at the woman at the end of the row who hadn't taken her over curious gaze off Merlin since they'd walked in. Merlin raised his good hand, the one with the cup in it, and pressed it to his chest, over his heart. Arthur's eyes followed the movement, before flickering up to meet Merlin's eyes, already brimming with tears. "Yeah, I know," Arthur breathed the lie softly, sympathetically, despite finding it hard to believe Will deserved Merlin's broken heart, even if Merlin had once truly had feelings for the brute. "But-" Arthur broke off, thinking. "You said you fell down the stairs," Arthur said softly, to which Merlin nodded. "Did you-" Arthur looked to Merlin's arm, and the awkward way he was holding himself. "Did you land on your arm?" Merlin followed Arthur's gaze down to his arm before nodding again. "And your head? Did you get that cut from the fall too?" Merlin raised his hand once more, still clutching the cup, and pressed it to the cut on his head, wincing as he did so.

"I think that was from the banister," Merlin mumbled, letting his hand rest in his lap. Arthur took another look at the cut on Merlin's head, noticing that it too had started to bruise, the area around it taking on a faint blue hue. His eyes lowered, onto the side of Merlin's face and the massive blue bruise spread across his perfect cheek bone. Arthur sighed, letting his gaze fall to their still clasped hands. He gave Merlin's a quick gentle squeeze before letting their hands fall apart.

"I should see if Gwaine needs a hand," Arthur explained as he rose to his feet.

"No," Merlin breathed, panic lacing his voice as he once again clutched at Arthur's wrist. "Please don't- please, just, sit with me for a bit." Arthur caught the way his eyes began drifting to the exit, as if he were afraid that at any moment Will would come storming in and- what he would then do Arthur was unsure, what Merlin feared he would do he was certain of even less. So with a kind smile Arthur slide into the seat beside Merlin, slipping his hand into Merlin's again, offering him that anchor once more. Gwaine wasn't too much longer, and with him came the nurse once more, saying the doctor could see him immediately. Merlin's hand clutched to Arthur's as he guided him down the hall with Gwaine at his side.

With only a slight amount of sobbing on Merlin's part, Arthur and Gwaine were instructed from the room so the doctor could examine Merlin. Arthur felt gut wrenchingly horrible for leaving Merlin in the state he was in, but with the promise that they would wait right outside the door Merlin appeared to settle somewhat. After three and a half minutes in silence, Arthur was ready to start tearing his hair out at the roots. After another two minutes he'd started passing. After only thirty more seconds Arthur had to begin playing the mantra; breath, he'll be fine, calm down, breath, he'll be fine, calm down…

The ringing of an unfamiliar phone startled Arthur from his spiralling state, to find Gwaine watching him with an expression he couldn't decide was worried, curious or amused. The black phone he'd pocketed after obtaining Merlin was the source of the unfamiliar ringtone.

"Start from the beginning," Uther demanded as soon as Arthur pressed the phone to his ear. With a heavy breath Arthur launched into an account of the last hours events as he fell back into the seat beside Gwaine, not sparing any punches. Arthur could feel Gwaine winding up tighter and tighter as he informed his father of the contents of the phone call he'd had with Merlin, catching the muttered curses as he explained how Merlin had ended up falling down the stairs. Arthur had just finished explaining that Merlin was currently being seen to by a doctor, when said doctor stepped out into the hallway. With a hurried goodbye Arthur hung up on his father, pocketing the phone hastily. With a sigh the doctor began listing off Merlin's injuries.

"He's got a minor concussion, not anything I'm too stressed about, sever bruising down both his arms and his face, all which should heal without much drama. However, he has a fractured collar bone, two bruised ribs and his right arm is broken in two places," at this the doctor paused, noting the slight paling in Gwaine's face who quickly brushed aside the concern and told him to continue. "Most of his injuries just need time and rest. I will set his arm now and place it in a cast, and I can prescribe some anti-inflammatories and strong pain killers, both of which will help him get some much needed rest. Under normal circumstances I would insist he stay here for two to three days, if not that at least overnight for observation, however, with rape victims it's proved that unfamiliar surroundings hinder both physical and mental recovery and I would suggest getting him to stay with family, or close friends, someone who-"

"Wait, back up a minute," Gwaine gasped, getting to his feet and rubbing a weary hand down his face, leaving it on his scruffy chin as he collected his breath. "Rape victim?" Arthur felt as if he couldn't breathe, his heart beat sluggishly in his veins, white noise filling his ears as he felt bile rise in the back of his throat.

"_Oh God_," Arthur breathed with a hoarse voice, his hands coming up to clutch at his hair as his head fell forwards.

"I am sorry, I thought you knew," the doctor apologised softly, looking from one male to the next, with a sigh he pressed on. "I will have to go alert the authorities," the doctor said standing. "Merlin will not have to give a statement straight away, but if you can leave your numbers with me I can pass them on to the police so they can get your statements." Arthur nodded, not bothering to stand as Gwaine followed the doctor down the white hall. Instead, Arthur sat with his head in his hands, cursing himself for not getting his act together sooner, not suggesting his plan straight away, getting Merlin away from Will before this happened. Then again, Gwaine had a spare key, knew how to get to Wills, so maybe this had happened before. But it still was no reason for it to happen again. Arthur stood and gently, silently slipped past the door into the room Merlin waited in, curled up in a ball on a sofa couch watching the night sky through the window at his side. A blanket was wrapped tightly around him, making him look that much smaller. One thing Arthur was sure of, despite the turmoil his thoughts had been caught up in, was that he would be dammed if anything like this happened to Merlin again. No matter the circumstances, he would never let another touch Merlin without his consent again.

* * *

**The R2 the R:**

Thanks **AnotherNamelessAuthor** for reviewing :) it's very much appreciated. Hopefully the other 20+ followers will follow suit :P


End file.
